County Hall faces the threat of cyber attack tens of thousands of times every day, with around a dozen posing serious risks, officers have revealed.

Geoff Connell, head of information management and technology at Norfolk County Council and president of public sector IT society Socitm, speaks at the Norfolk Cyber Security Cluster inaugural conference at Centrum on Norwich Research Park. Picture: Bethany Whymark

As councillors were updated on cyber security measures taken, it was revealed that thousands of potential attacks have to be warded off each day as the risk of breaches continues to grow.

Members of the county council’s digital innovations committee were told on Wednesday that computer systems were constantly under threat of cyber attacks - but that so far attacks had been successfully quelled.

Marie Strong, Liberal Democrat councillor for Wells, asked how many cyber security breach attempts there had been in the past 12 months.

Council officer Andy Ambridge said: “Tens of thousands take place every day, although our security system does not permit them.

“Around 10 to 13 of these attempts are serious ones, although so far, none have been successful. However, new attempts happen every day.”

Mr Ambridge said the coming months would see staff at County Hall given increased training in cyber awareness to help them identify further potential threats.

His report to the committee also revealed that the council was investing in Microsoft products to further improve cloud security of its servers.

Geoff Connell, County Hall’s head of information, management and technology, said: “Threats are increasing all the time and we are doing more and more to address them. However, we need to be not just good, but excellent, at dealing with them.”

Mr Ambridge added: “As the calibre of cyber attacks improve, so must we.”

Cyber attacks have grown increasingly prevalent in recent years, as technology advances and attempts become more sophisticated.

In 2017, both Norwich International Airport and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital were subject to attacks from the same individual,

In May 2017, the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston was also victim, as part of a wide-scale cyber attack on the NHS.

In 2012, County Hall suffered a similar fate, when an attempt at hacking the website of the fire service meant the page had to be temporarily taken down.